The Southeast Produce Council has enacted some changes to its Southern Innovations 2025 event to make the entire experience more valuable and enjoyable than ever before, according to David Sherrod, the council’s president and CEO.

The changes include moving the start date back by one day, offering the social networking events earlier in the week, eliminating the traditional closing party and giving more time for buyers and sellers to walk the expo.

In other words, Southern Innovations is, well, innovating.

“We have shifted our agenda to accommodate what we’ve been hearing from our attendees — that they’d like to start getting away from the full weekend agenda,” said Sherrod. “So, this will be our first year of starting on Tuesday and the event actually ending on Friday evening. It’s based on the surveys. We’re going to test it out and see how it works. We’re looking forward to the new agenda.”

Southern Innovations 2025 will take place from Wednesday, Sept. 10, to Saturday, Sept. 13, at the Charlotte Convention Center in Charlotte, NC. A big crowd is expected.

The new schedule

The board of directors meeting will take place Tuesday afternoon, Sept. 9, and the VIP dinner (by invitation only) will take place that evening.

“The VIP list keeps growing as more people have done so much over the years,” Sherrod said proudly. “It should be a fun time getting to spend some time in the city of Charlotte.”

Wednesday, Sept. 10, “is our networking day,” he noted. “This is one of the big changes to the new schedule. This used to be on Saturday, but we front-loaded it this year, kind of like we do at Southern Exposure.”

The Martin Eubanks Sporting Clays Contest, which is full with a wait list, will take place from 7 a.m. to 2:30 p.m.

The Founders Memorial Golf Tournament will take place from 7:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. It, too, is full with a wait list.

“This year, for the first time at SEPC, we’re going to have a Cool Cucumber Classic Pickleball Tournament, from 8:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m., and believe it or not, we’ve filled that up, too,” he said. “Plus on top of all those events, we’ve got our local tour: a Queen City Comedy Tour, and that’s full, too.” This tour will take place from 10:15 a.m. to 1 p.m.

The Welcome Reception will take place from 6:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. “We’ll be having some activities and games, with a lot of different events as everybody is welcomed to Charlotte,” and a DJ will provide music, said Sherrod.

Education day

First up on Thursday, from 8 a.m. to 9 a.m., is the University Educational Session titled Sustainability: It’s Good for Business. Moderator Kieran McNeice of Measure to Improve will be joined by panelists Justin LaCroix of Ahold Delhaize USA, Jonathan Quinn of U.S. Plastics Pact, Tyler Simmons of Flashfood and Jana Fischback of Stemilt Growers.

The second University Educational Session, from 9:30 a.m. to 11 a.m., is titled What’s New, featuring Anne-Marie Roerink, president of 210 Analytics LLC.

Southern Roots, the council’s leadership program for women in produce, will meet from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. Featured speaker Jaime Kulaga, a licensed mental health counselor and author, will speak on Creating work/life balance: empowering strategies for women in produce.

As the SEPC noted, “Dr. Kulaga is passionate about helping women find balance, build confidence and achieve success in both their personal and professional lives. Her empowering message will leave you motived to take charge of your journey and embrace new opportunities.”

The Good Seeds MENtor Program is also scheduled to take place from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m., featuring Justin Forsett, an National Football League Pro-Bowler, visionary entrepreneur and servant leader. “Known for his speed and agility on the field, he is now a respected leader and businessman off the field,” the SEPC noted. “As an award-winning speaker, he shares his stories of sacrifice, setbacks and success.”

Committee meetings will take place from 1:30 p.m. to 5 p.m., and the board of governors will meet from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m.

The Chairman’s Dinner Dance will take place from 6:30 p.m. to 10:30 p.m.

“For the first time, one part of this event will be our Unseen Hero awards,” said Sherrod, which will be presented in three categories: retail, foodservice and grower/shipper/packer.

And of course, “We will say good-bye to the board members who will be leaving us and then welcome the new board members,” said Sherrod. The four board members whose terms are ending are David Wilson of D.W. Consultants; Jeff Cady of Tops Markets; Kim Andreason of Jason’s Deli; and Kristin Yerecic Scott of Yerecic Label, who is the outgoing chair of the board of directors. The four new board members are Blair Greenhill of Nickey Gregory Co., Matt Hubbard of Local Bounti, Melissa Thrasher of Whole Foods Market and Shanan Cox of Sam’s Club.

As always, the new executive committee will be introduced: Sloan Lott of Bland Farms as chairman, Gary Baker of Merchants Distributors as vice chairman, Derek Ennis of L&M Cos. as secretary and Maclaren Oglesby of Sbrocco International as treasurer.

And the music? “Because we’re in the Queen City, we’re actually having a Queen tribute band,” said Sherrod. “They’re called Queen Legacy. So, get ready for We Are the Champions and We Will Rock You at the Chairman’s Dinner Dance. It’s all part of the theme that night that is more or less a kingdom with decorations like a castle and a medieval type of décor. It should be a lot of fun.”

Friday begins with the keynote brunch featuring keynote speaker Erik Qualman, from 9 a.m. to 10:30 a.m., a shorter period of time than in the past. According to SEPC, Qualman has performed in 55 countries and reached 50 million people. His business books are used in over 200 universities, and he has received an honorary doctorate for his groundbreaking work. His latest book, The Focus Project, is a guide to pursuing less in order to achieve more.

“He’s going to be great,” said Sherrod. “What we’re trying to get to with Southern Innovations is a platform for these groundbreaking technologies and new products and innovations within the produce industry. That’s what we’re trying to create with Southern Innovations. We don’t want it to be like Southern Exposure; we want it to be different. We want it to be different from any other show in the produce industry. We want it to have its own identity. I think that Eric’s message will tie right into that.”

After the keynote brunch, in another change, the retail and foodservice attendees will have early access to the gold-level and silver-level exhibitors at the expo from 11 a.m. to noon. The actual ribbon-cutting will take place at noon.

Since there is no closing party, Sherrod said, there will be heavy hors d’oervres available at the expo from 5 p.m. to 6:30 p.m.

No events are planned after the expo, “allowing all attendees time for team meetings or dinner with clients,” said Sherrod. “And we encourage that.”

The final event planned for Saturday is the Al Finch Memorial Prayer Breakfast, from 7:30 a.m. to 9 a.m.

Some numbers

The expo will feature 192 exhibitors, “the biggest yet,” said Sherrod.

As for attendance, “We’re going to end up with 300-plus retail, foodservice and wholesale buyers, which is a great number,” he said. “Some of the best retail, foodservice and wholesale operators out there will be in attendance. And we’re still over a month out.”

Overall, “We’re expecting about 1,600 as a total attendance, and it could exceed that.”

He concluded, “I think it’s one of the best returns on your investment if you come to our shows. We have a really good buyer-to-seller ratio. We’re excited about the numbers we’ve got. They’re right on target where we need to be.”